Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Elections - You Win Some; You Lose Some

I hope everyone exercised their right and voted today. And I'm not just talking about Dancing With the Stars!

My family has always been politically active - whether as voters or candidates. Politics and elections were always discussed (and cussed) at our dining room table. No surprise that political science was one of my minors in college.

Mayor Bill Kelly
Greenwood, Nebraska

It was a crisp fall night in the mid 1950s. I was about six years old at the time. I was so excited because it was election day and we were going to the polls to vote. No one bothered to tell me that I wasn't old enough to vote until we got to the polling place and I thought I could exercise my right. What a disappointment when they told me I couldn't vote! I pitched some kind of fit and started shouting, "I'm a Democrat and I want to vote!" Apparently I had to be taken to the car to wait while my Mom finished her ballot. What a disappointment. When other kids looked forward to turning 21 so they could drink legally, I looked forward to registering to vote. And I've voted in every election since then.

Below is a clipping from the Lincoln (NE) Evening Journal of April 8, 1959, when my grandfather Bill Kelly was defeated in his run for the Greenwood (NE) village board. Well, he showed them! A few years later, he was elected Mayor of Greenwood, where he served during the town's centennial.

I remember going to vote with my Mom when I was a kid. Our town had voting machines. She would push all the buttons for her choices, and let me pull the big lever that registered her vote. I always thought I was voting, too!